Maharashtra SSC English - First Language (MSBSHSE) flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Skimming versus scanning

Skimming reads quickly for the general idea or gist of a passage. Scanning moves the eyes rapidly to find one specific item such as a date, name or figure, ignoring surrounding text.

Inference in comprehension

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the passage but not stated word for word. The correct option must be supported by clues in the text, never by outside knowledge alone.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the writer's attitude towards the subject, revealed by word choice. Mood is the feeling created in the reader. A passage may have an ironic tone but a sombre mood.

Reference words in passages

Pronouns such as it, they, this and such point back to the nearest preceding noun phrase that agrees in number and makes logical sense in the sentence.

Theme stated as sentence

The central idea of a text expressed as a complete statement about human experience, for example that courage grows through adversity, rather than as a single abstract word.

Characterisation through evidence

A character trait is proved by citing an action, a line of dialogue or the narrator's comment. The trait name must follow the evidence, not precede it.

Narrative point of view

First person uses I and gives intimacy and possible bias. Third-person omniscient knows all minds and judges. Third-person limited stays inside one character's perceptions and knowledge.

Conflict types in prose

The central struggle in a narrative: person against person, person against self, person against society or person against nature. The resolution usually carries the story's message.

Sonnet form

A fourteen-line poem. The Shakespearean sonnet rhymes abab cdcd efef gg and ends with a couplet. The Petrarchan sonnet has an octave and a sestet.

Alliteration versus assonance

Alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds, as in 'wild and windy'. Assonance repeats vowel sounds inside words, as in 'the low moan of the ocean'.

Enjambment and caesura

Enjambment lets a sentence run past the end of a line without a pause. Caesura is a deliberate pause inside a line. Both control pace and emphasis.

Elegy, ode and ballad

An elegy mourns a death. An ode addresses or celebrates a person, object or idea in elevated style. A ballad narrates a story in simple stanzas, often with a refrain.

Apostrophe as poetic device

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person, a dead person, an abstract idea or an object as if it were present and could reply.

Context clue types

Hints to an unknown word's meaning: definition clues (means, is called), example clues (such as), contrast clues (however, unlike) and cause-effect clues (therefore, because).

Noun and verb stress shift

Some two-syllable words change stress with word class: as a noun the first syllable is stressed (REcord, PREsent), as a verb the second (reCORD, preSENT).

Negating prefixes

Prefixes that reverse meaning: un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, dis-, non- and anti-. The choice depends on the root, as in impossible, illegal, irregular and disloyal.

Suffixes marking word class

Endings that fix grammatical class: -tion, -ment, -ness, -ity form nouns; -ous, -ive, -able, -al form adjectives; -ly forms adverbs; -ise, -ify, -en form verbs.

Present perfect versus past perfect

Present perfect (has plus past participle) links a past action to the present. Past perfect (had plus past participle) marks the earlier of two past actions.

Reported speech backshift

When the reporting verb is past, the reported tense moves one step back, and pronouns, time and place words change: now becomes then, here becomes there, today becomes that day.

Passive voice formation

Use a form of be plus the past participle. The active object becomes the subject, and the doer is either dropped or introduced with by at the end of the clause.

Conditional sentence types

First conditional: if plus present tense, then will. Second: if plus past, then would. Third: if plus past perfect, then would have plus past participle.

Question tag rule

The tag repeats the auxiliary verb and reverses polarity. A positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag, with a pronoun subject.

Subject-verb agreement traps

The verb agrees with the true subject, not the nearest noun. 'One of the boys is', 'neither of them was' and 'the number of students is' are correct forms.

Synonyms and register

Words with similar meaning differ in formality and collocation. Begin is neutral, commence is formal and kick off is informal, so the sentence's tone decides the choice.

Idiom: a blessing in disguise

An apparent misfortune that later proves to be advantageous. It describes a hidden benefit, not a religious blessing, and is used about events rather than people.

Idiom: to beat about the bush

To avoid coming to the main point and talk around it instead. It describes evasive speech and is usually mildly critical of the speaker.

Conversion in word formation

Zero derivation, where a word changes class without any affix, as when the noun water becomes the verb water, or the adjective clean becomes a verb.

Formal letter layout

Sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, subject line, salutation, three-paragraph body, and the closing Yours faithfully with signature and name.

Notice format essentials

Institution name at the top, the word NOTICE, the date, a bold heading, a short third-person body, and the writer's name with designation at the end.

Report writing structure

A heading, a byline, place and date, then a factual past-tense account answering what happened, when, where, who was involved, how it happened and what resulted.

Dialogue writing conventions

One speaker per line, no quotation marks around the whole exchange, natural contractions, and enough turns, usually six to eight, to develop the exchange.

Show, don't tell

A narrative technique that conveys emotion through concrete physical detail and action, such as a clenched jaw, rather than naming the feeling directly.

Expanding a proverb

State the proverb's literal meaning, explain it with one concrete example, apply it to life, and close by restating the idea in fresh words.